Monogroove heat pipes are used extensively in spacecraft for "dumping" excessive heat from electronic circuits, etc., to cold ambient outer space. Such heat pipes offer significant advantages as a heat-exchanging medium due to the fact that they lack mechanical components and therefore their reliability is inherently high. As a result, heat pipes have been manufactured in longer and longer lengths to accomplish greater heat transfer rates. An inherent problem in the utilization of such heat pipes on board space vehicles is the inability to establish a primed condition in the liquid channel in a zero "g" environment independent of the initial liquid distribution in the heat pipe.
In a prior art development of the present assignee, a monogroove heat pipe was constructed to include a single condenser and multiple evaporators, all communicating with a central manifold. However, the connection of the condenser and evaporators to the manifold generally involves right-angle joints, which cause surface discontinuities in the liquid-vapor path through the heat pipe thereby inhibiting the establishment of a primed condition.